adorn

verb

ə-ˈdȯrn How to pronounce adorn (audio)
adorned; adorning; adorns
Synonyms of adornnext

transitive verb

1
: to enhance the appearance of especially with beautiful objects
adorned the wall with her paintings
2
: to enliven or decorate as if with ornaments
people of fashion who adorned the Court

Synonyms

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 
Choose the Right Synonym for adorn

adorn, decorate, ornament, embellish, beautify, deck, garnish mean to enhance the appearance of something by adding something unessential.

adorn implies an enhancing by something beautiful in itself.

a diamond necklace adorned her neck

decorate suggests relieving plainness or monotony by adding beauty of color or design.

decorate a birthday cake

ornament and embellish imply the adding of something extraneous, ornament stressing the heightening or setting off of the original

a white house ornamented with green shutters

, embellish often stressing the adding of superfluous or adventitious ornament.

embellish a page with floral borders

beautify adds to embellish a suggestion of counterbalancing plainness or ugliness.

will beautify the grounds with flower beds

deck implies the addition of something that contributes to gaiety, splendor, or showiness.

a house all decked out for Christmas

garnish suggests decorating with a small final touch and is used especially in referring to the serving of food.

an entrée garnished with parsley

Examples of adorn in a Sentence

Her paintings adorn the walls. the Sultan's tent was richly adorned with thick tapestries and gleaming gold candlesticks
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The fragrance itself offers a soft, powdery rose scent—think Parisian boudoir adorned in pink velvets, fine fabrics, and aesthetic little cakes. —Anamaria Glavan, Allure, 22 Nov. 2024 One piece with inlaid turquoise chips showed how the ancestors of the O’odham adorned themselves. —Debra Utacia Krol, The Arizona Republic, 22 Nov. 2024 A couple of Christmas trees adorn a few rooms, while Santa figurines, wreaths, nutcrackers, and other festive touches are spread throughout. —Lennie Omalza, The Courier-Journal, 21 Nov. 2024 Burke therefore enjoyed a more comfortable dressing room adorned in pinks and blues. —Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 20 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for adorn 

Word History

Etymology

Middle English aournen, adournen, borrowed from Anglo-French aurner, adourner (with d restored from Latin), going back to Latin adōrnāre "to get ready, prepare, decorate, embellish," from ad- ad- + ōrnāre "to prepare, equip, embellish" — more at ornate

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of adorn was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near adorn

adorkable

adorn

adornment

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Adorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adorn. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.

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Kids Definition

adorn

verb
ə-ˈdȯrn How to pronounce adorn (audio)
: to enhance the appearance of with ornaments

More from Merriam-Webster on adorn

Nglish: Translation of adorn for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of adorn for Arabic Speakers

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